Patriots defense was better than it seemed against Miami

Monday

FOXBORO — Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Here is a quick way to find out, at least as far as measuring how you feel about the New England Patriots.

FOXBORO - Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Here is a quickway to find out, at least as far as measuring how you feel aboutthe New England Patriots.

Just one easy question: How did you think the Pats' defenseplayed Monday night in the 38-24 victory over Miami?

The optimist will respond that New England's new-look defensedid just fine. New England won, right? Isn't that the only thingthat matters?

For some, that might be true, but not for everyone. Thepessimist will point to the numbers and than insist the defendersdid not play well at all. The Pats gave up 416 yards passing toChad Henne and a Miami offense that was one of the worst in theleague last season, the pessimist will point out.

This week, the Pats will be in big trouble since they have to goagainst Philip Rivers and a San Diego squad that led the NFL intotal offense last season. And the Chargers have picked right upwhere they left off. They beat Minnesota, 24-17, last week asRivers went 33 for 48 for 335 yards and two touchdowns, and runningback Mike Tolbert took the early scoring lead in the league withthree touchdowns.

A realist would tell both sides that this week will be the realtest. How the Pats defense plays against San Diego will providemore answers than what happened in Miami.

A statistician who worked to break down how the numbers cameabout in the Florida heat likely would give the optimists someammunition to show that the chances are good that the New Englanddefense will show it really is improved. There were plenty ofpositives inside the numbers.

Miami took the opening kickoff and marched 84 yards in 12 plays,eating up the game's first 7:18 before scoring a touchdown on abeautifully executed quarterback draw by Henne. Immediatelyafterward, as his team had the ball, New England coach BillBelichick spent time examining pictures of what had happened on theopening drive.

While he was doing that, the Patriots marched to a tyingtouchdown. When Miami got the ball back, it ran three plays, wasstopped a yard short of a first down and had to punt.

That became a theme.

After its great start, Miami managed only 162 total yards overits next nine possessions. Of the nine, five times it wentthree-and-out. Two other times, the Dolphins managed one first downbefore having to punt.

The only touchdown Miami scored from the first drive until thefourth quarter came after a Tom Brady pass was deflected andintercepted, snapping Brady's NFL-record streak of 358 consecutivepasses without a pick. Miami took over on the New England nine andtook two plays to score, not exactly a black mark against the NewEngland defense.

With the game on the line, the New England defense actuallyperformed quite well, the numbers indicate.

In the final quarter, when the Pats had the game under controland became less aggressive with their defense, Miami added 162yards on its last three possessions, making the final numbers lookbleak and giving the pessimists plenty of ammunition.

The New England players were not unhappy with the defensiveeffort. Captain Vince Wilfork, for one, liked the way his unitbegan.

"We have a long ways to go, but being able to go out for 60minutes and actually have something to coach off of and see whereyour team is and see what you have to work on is big," he said."Then you move forward and continue to move on because the seasonis here. It was big for us to go out and actually get a chance toplay 60 minutes. Now we've done it we have something to coach offof."

He and his teammates know they have to improve.

"We have to be a lot better, especially up front," AlbertHaynesworth said. "I can only talk about what we do as us,personally. I think we let them score too many points and get toomany yards. Once we figure out that and keep playing hard andgetting after the quarterback, we'll be all right."

Another positive statistic was in third-down conversions. In2010, the Pats allowed opponents to convert first downs 47.1percent of the time, not only last in the league, but the worst inthree years. In Miami, the Dolphins were only 2 for 14 on thirddown.

"Yeah, that was great, 2 for 14. But I think they were 4 for 5on fourth down, so again, you have to get off the field,"Haynesworth said. "You have to stop them. We just have to playbetter as a front, as a defense. If we want to be that top-rankeddefense, then we have to play like it."

With the offense the Patriots have, they do not need the defenseto have spectacular numbers. They just need the defense to playbetter than it did last season. Despite what some might feel, anexamination of the numbers shows the Pats defense did just fine inweek one.

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